Door operator



26, J. A. MARZOLF DOOR OPERATOR Filed Dec. 17, 1927 2 Sheets-:Sheet 1 A t lorney Nov. 26, 1929. J. A. ARzoLF DOOR OPERATOR Fil ed Dec. 17, 41927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J07? H. lhrzo/f We? A ltorney Patented Nov. 26, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DOOR OPERATOR Application filed December 17, 1927.

My present invention relates to improvements in door operators of the vehicle actuated type and designed specially for use in connection with doors for garages that v are opened and closed through mechanism actuated by the automobile or automotive vehicle. By the utilization of the operator of my invention means are provided that are actuated by contact from parts of the vehicle, as the front and rear axles, in order that the garage door may be opened as the car approaches it and the gar-age door closed after the car has entered the garage. The operating mechanism is also designed to be actuated by the vehicle within the garage to open its door, and after the car has passed out through the doorway, the door is closed by the operating mechanism actuated by the ve hicle.

The door is of the swiveled or rotary, and folding type and a turning and folding movement is imparted to the door to open it, while an unfolding and reverse swiveled movement is imparted to the door for closing it.

An endless operating cable extending within and without the garage is utilized in connection with actuating levers and with the front and rear axles, or other parts of the vehicle, and the operating cable is connected '3 by a pull cable with the door for moving the latter.

The invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts as will hereinafter be more fully pointed out and claimed. In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one complete example of. the physical embodiment of my invention wherein the parts are combined and arranged according to the best mode I have thus far to devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention.

While the invention is here exemplified as a garage door operator it will be understood thatthe operating means may be applied for use with other closures, and other types of doors may be opened or closed by the mechanism whether operated by an automobile or other moving object.

Figure 1 is a sectional detail view of a garage equipped with the operating mecha- Serial No. 240,771.

nism of my invention showing by full lines a car within the garage and by dotted lines a car outside the garage with the operating levers shown in full and dotted lines also.

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail view at one showing by dotted lines its open, folded position and with connections in dotted lines.

Figure 7 is an enlarged detail view showing the swivel joint of the door with its two panels folded.

Figure 8 is a horizontal sectional view through the doorway, showing the door in full lines and showing by dotted lines its folded position.

Figure 9 is an enlarged detail view of one of the guide rollers or grooved wheels and track for guiding the door.

In order that the general assembly and arrangement of parts may readily be understood I have designated an automobile or car as C and the garage as G. The axles of the car are designated A and A and the hinged, or folding, swivelcd door is made up of panels D and D that are divided horizontally and hinged at H. The door is adapted to close the doorway W and a stop S prevents excessive swinging or swiveled movement of the door.

The door is designed to swivel or swing in a vertical plane and to be folded along a horizontal line, and at its center the door or the upper panel D is provided with a spherical head or ball 1 secured to the panel by means of an angular shank 2. The ball or swivel head is retained in a socket 3 in the door frame by means of retaining plates 4; and 5 as best seen in Figure 7 where the door is shown in folded and turned position by full lines, and indicated in closed position by dotted lines. At its lower edge the door is provided with one or more grooved guide rollers 6 supported from a swiveled head 7 by the retaining plate 8 on the lower edge of the door. As the door is swung to open or closed position the guide roller or rollers travels through a tubular track 9 having retaining flanges 10 for co-action with the groove roller. The track is inclined and has a portion enclosed within the pavement P, and braced from the wall of the garage. As the door is swung on its pivot or swivel, the roller travels through the upwardly inclined track thus elevating the lower panel D and causing the panels to open at their hinge joints. This movement, in opening the door, thus swings the door bodily to' a position at right angles to the doorway with the door extending transversely through the doorway. The ellect of the upward travel of the roller in its guide groove is to fold the panels on their hinged to right-angular position, the panel D being-in vertical plane at one side of the doorway and the" upper panel I) being in a horizontal plane in the upper portion of the doorway. Bot-h panels are thus disposed transversely of the doorway with their ends projecting at either side thereof and leaving I the doorway free for the passage of the car G.

The' door is directly operated by a pull cable 11 attached at 12 on the inner side of the door and on a line; of the vertical central axis of the door directly below the swivel joint of the door. The cable, as best seen in Figure 8 extends, normally, alongside the closed door and over successive guide pulleys 13, and a pull on the cable givesto the door its initial swivel movement. As seen in Figure 8, the track (9 is provided with a curved portion 9 in which the roller 6 stands when the door is in closed position. I The initial movement of the door causes the roller to travel around the curved portion 9 and then the continued pull on the door causes the roller to travel up the inclined guide track. Due to its swivel support in the lower edge of the door the roller travels in a straight line while the front edge of the door swings about the swivel joint as a center, until the parts assume the dotted line position of Figure 8. The end of the cable of course moves with the door and when the door is opened the end of the cable is so related to the door that when the door is to be closed, the proper pull may be imparted thereto for the purpose. The pull cable is attached at let to an endless operating cable 15 and the latter is located within a pit 16 that extends the length of the floor of the garage and also extends an adequate distance in front of the doorway of the garage The pit is located at the approximate longitudinal center of the garage and the cable is siippor'ted on a pair of main,

, supporting pulleys bi Wheels 17 and 18 on shafts 19 journaled in bearings 20 of the trainee 31. The upper, working flight, of the cable passes over the top of the supporting or end wheels, and both flights pass under an intermediate or central guide wheel, and a pair of rollers or pulleys 22 and 23 are used to depress the upper flight as seen in Figure 1. These depressing wheels are located above the working flight of the cable and are adjustable through their supporting arms 24 that are pivoted at 25, and provided with an arcuate slot 26 for the set bolt 27. Between the supporting wheel 17 and depressing wheel 22 an intermediate guide wheel 28 is located and between the other end wheel 18 and depressing wheel 23 another intermediate guide wheel 29 is located, both wheels 28 and 29' having journals 30 supported in the frame 31. Between a depressing wheel and an intermediate guide wheel the cable is bent downwardly from the position of its ends that extend over the end supporting wheel and its adjoining intermediate guide wheel for a purpose-to be described. The two end stretches of the working flight of the cable i. e. the stretches between wheels 17 and 28 and 18 and 29, reciprocate with the movement of the endless operating cable. These two stretches of the cable are provided, each with a pair of operating levers-as 32, 33-, and 34, 35', each pivotedas at 36 in a housing 37 Each housing is provided with a flange 38 that co-acts with a clamp plate'39 and bolts 39 for clamping the housing in desired position on the cable. A stop 40 on the housing prevents excess movement of the lever inone direction, and a spring 41 connected at ends to the housing and lever tends to hold the lever in upright position.

As seen in Figure 4: the two levers 34 and 35 can be swung toward each other from vertical position, but cannot be swung outwardly away from each other. Thus the near lever may be turned down by contact from the axle of an approaching car whilethe second lever adjacent thereto stands up in straight vertical position to receive the impact from the axle. Thus the front axle of the forwardly moving car (to the left in Figure 1) turns down lever 32 and impinges against the second lever 33 and pressure on this lever as the car moves to the left imparts motion to the operating cable and to the pull cable to open the door. As the lever 33 passes over the intermediate guide wheel 29 it declines with the cable 15 until the upper end of the lever is below the axle of the car. The car then passes through the open door and encounters the levers 34: and 35. By co-action with lever 35'the operating cable is again moved to impart a pull on the cable 11 to close the door behind the car. When backing out of the garge the axles of the car eo-act with the operating levers to reverse the movementsfiof the op-' erating cable to pull the door open and then to pull it to closed position through the cooperation of the pull cable.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. The combination in a door operator with a swiveled door, a pull cable attached to the door and an endless operating cable connected with the pull cable, of main supporting wheels for the operating cable intermediate guide wheels spaced from the supporting wheels, cable-depressing wheels between the intermediate wheels, and pairs of oppositely operating levers attached to the cable at its opposite ends for co-action with a vehicle.

2. The combination in a door operator with an operating cable of a pair of spaced levers each having a housing and means for clamping the housings to the cable, means for limiting outward movement of said levers from each other, and springs for holding the levers in upright position.

3. The combination in a door operator with a cable, a supporting wheel, an intermediate guide wheel and a wheel for depressing the cable over the guide wheel, or" a pair of spaced levers carried by the cable means for limiting relative outward movement of the levers and springs for normally holding the levers in upright position.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JOHN A. MARZOLF. 

